9 Cabinet men unconfirmed: What’s BBM’s game plan?

Nine of 24 Cabinet members, more than one-third, are unconfirmed by the Commission on Appointments.

Malacañang hasn’t even submitted their credentials for CA screening.

The CA is a separate body from Congress, although all its members are lawmakers. Both will adjourn March 21 to May 3.

Non-confirmation hampers performance of Cabinet members, since they are merely in acting capacity or officers-in-charge. Acting secretaries will be unable to launch mid- or long-term programs. OICs cannot move personnel around.

The nine are:

• Acting Executive Sec. Ralph Recto,

• Acting Sec. Frederick Go of Finance,

• Acting Sec. Juan Cuna of Environment and Natural Resources,

• Acting Sec. Vince Dizon of Public Works,

• Acting Sec. Giovanni Lopez of Transportation,

• Acting Sec. Fredderick Vida of Justice,

• Acting Sec. Dave Gomez of Presidential Communications,

• OIC Rolando Toledo of Budget and

• OIC Verna Buensuceso of Tourism

Recto used to head finance and Dizon transport, for which CA confirmed them. But they need new confirmations in present posts.

Malacañang’s non-submission of their qualifications is reportedly political. President Bongbong Marcos is waiting for the lapse of the Constitution’s year-long ban on appointing election losers.

The ban is up to May 12, 2026, a year after the May 2025 congressional-local balloting (Article IX, Constitutional Commissions, B-Section 6).

As mid-term initiative, BBM supposedly plans to appoint politician pals to the Cabinet. They will replace those in acting or OIC position, or even those already confirmed in 2022-2025.

A senatorial loser in BBM’s 2025 ticket used to be a Cabinet member. Benhur Abalos was BBM’s secretary of the interior and local government.

Other BBM ticket losers were prominent in politics. Francis Tolentino was Tagaytay City mayor, then Noynoy Aquino’s Metro Manila chairman, Rody Duterte’s political adviser and senator. Manny Pacquiao was congressman and senator. Abby Binay was three-term mayor of Makati. Ex-senator Bong Revilla is presently detained on malversation charges.

The Constitution requires CA confirmation of executive appointees, including ambassadors and AFP officers from colonel up. Also presidential nominees to the Commissions on Audit, on Elections, on Civil Service and Judicial and Bar Council.

The Senate President is ex-officio CA chairman. 12 senators and 12 congressmen sit based on proportional party representation.

“The CA does not curtail the President’s appointing authority but serves as a check against its abuse,” its website states. “It assures that the President has exercised the power to appoint wisely, by appointing only those who are fit and qualified.”

It further states: “Powers vested in CA by the Constitution shall be discharged with only one impelling motive, the efficient and harmonious functioning of government.

“Cognizant that the President carefully considers the fitness and qualifications of nominees or appointees, the CA shall accord the nomination or appointment weight and respect, to the end that all doubts should be resolved in favor of approval or confirmation.

“On the other hand, being part of our republican system of checks and balances, the CA shall act as restraint against abuse of the appointing authority, to the end that the power of disapproval should be exercised to protect and enhance the public interest.”

BBM’s sister, Minority Senator Imee Marcos, on Tuesday questioned Malacañang’s non-submission to CA of Cabinet appointees’ papers. She noted that the Supreme Court, in Pimentel Jr. vs Arroyo, upheld the President’s power to appoint acting secretaries.

“But SC was equally clear in warning that ‘acting’ appointments, while permissible as temporary stopgap measures, if abused, can also be a way of circumventing CA confirmation,” she said. “That’s precisely the danger now confronting us. What we’re witnessing is no longer the occasional temporary designation made out of necessity, out of urgency, [but] the normalization of acting appointments as a governing strategy.”

Minority Senator Rodante Marcoleta interjected that “the President cannot bypass the CA, an independent body that has to work.”

Senate President Tito Sotto reacted that the CA intends to ask Malacañang about the unconfirmed appointees.

Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson has another take on CA. He flagged ex-public works secretary Manuel Bonoan’s use of CA confirmation hearings allegedly to dangle P500-million flood control money.

Purportedly during Bonoan’s confirmation hearing on Nov. 22, 2022 a congressman-member of the CA asked Bonoan for the huge amount to be shared with fellow House members. But the congressman supposedly kept the money for himself.

Lacson revealed his source: resigned Public Works Usec. Roberto Bernardo, now state witness in malversation raps against Bonoan. He said his Blue Ribbon committee will pursue the matter.

The CA public works and highways committee, which confirmed Bonoan’s ad interim appointment, was chaired by then SAGIP party-list rep now senator Marcoleta.

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